Gil Asakawa's Nikkei View | asian american
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March 30, 2010

Nick Levasseur, enemy of anime. Holy cow, what was this guy thinking? New Hampshire State Rep. Nick Levasseur posted on his Facebook wall earlier this week that "Anime is a prime example of why two nukes just wasn’t enough…..” Huh? That rates a WTF?! from any perspective. Otaku Review, an anime fan blog first picked up the quote, then Levasseur confirmed he posted it on his personal Facebook account, and apologized for it. At least it was a real apology, not one of those "I'm sorry you were offended" non-apologies. Levasseur admits it was a stupid comment, in a response to a question from Otaku review's L.B. Bryant:
I would like to deeply apologize for the insensitivity of this post. It was a poorly thought out comment, posted jest on my private facebook page. It was never intended to be viewed by anyone other than friends. This, of course, does not excuse the comment. This type of statement has no place in public or private discourse. It does not represent any true opinion, political or personal. My record in the New Hampshire House shows a commitment to equality and social justice. It is a record of which I am most proud. This comment is a disappointment not only to the people of New Hampshire, whom it has been my privilege to serve, but also to my own beliefs and moral code.
Huffington Post picked up on the gaff via a TV station, and other blogs and news media are spreading the comment and subsequent apology around. Good. But the apology begs some creepy questions that remain unanswered:
March 30, 2010

I've been meaning to post a reminder for everyone (non-Asians too!) to fill out your U.S. Census forms, or if you don't get it done and postmarked by the end of March, to be sure respond to census workers when they come to your door in the months to come. It's especially important for ethnic minority communities to be counted because an accurate accounting means every community will receive the federal services and funding it deserves. And remember, this has nothing to do with citizenship, or whether you're a student, visitor, legal, illegal, whatever. It's just counting people across the U-S of A. Here's an article from the JACL about the Census and why it's important:
JACL Says “Get Everyone Counted in the 2010 Census” By Phillip Ozaki and Carla Pineda Another decade has gone by, so that means its Census time! The JACL is making extraordinary efforts to make sure everybody in our community gets counted. Over $400 billion in federal funding is at stake. One person left out is equal to a loss of $1,300 over the next 10 years to his neighborhood. Everyone deserves a piece of the pie so make sure to get your forms in at the beginning of April. Historically, racial minorities have been undercounted including Asian Pacific Americans, and the JACL hopes to prevent that in 2010.
March 28, 2010

I caught Corky Lee preparing to shoot photos of singer-songwriter Cynthia Lin at a 2006 Asian festival in New York City (picture #22) We're thrilled to announce the next interview of visualizAsian.com's Asian American Empowerment Series, a free one-hour conversation with award-winning photojournalist Corky Lee, who has captured Asian America through his lenses for over three decades! Register now for the call, which will be Tuesday April 20 at 6 pm PT -- this one's going to be extra-special!

In addition to the conversation that you can listen to as usual, via phone or webcast, we'll be showing Corky's work in a slideshow, and you can vote on your 10 favorite images from the 30 shown here, and Corky will share the stories behind the Top 10 during our talk!
March 28, 2010

Yes, I know I've been slacking off my Nikkei View scribblings for more than a month now. Sorry about that. I've been busy with the day job (which I enjoy a lot, working on Internet and new media stuff for MediaNews Group Interactive, the parent company of The Denver Post, San Jose Mercury News and 70-some other newspapers across the...

February 23, 2010

Giant Robot features the works of cutting-edge Asian and Asian American artistsHow cool is this? The March 16 visualizAsian.com show is going to be a conversation with Eric Nakamura, the owner, publisher and co-editor of Giant Robot magazine. Our call with Eric will be at 6 pm PT on Tuesday, March 16! From movie stars, musicians, and skate-boarders to toys, technology, and history, Giant Robot magazine covers cool aspects of Asian and Asian-American pop culture. Paving the way for less knowledgeable media outlets, Eric put the spotlight on Chow Yun Fat, Jackie Chan, and Jet Li years before they were in mainstream America's vocabulary. Although Giant Robot has an Asian pop culture focus, it has earned a loyal readership of all colors. The readers are about half-Asian and half-not. Under Eric's leadership the magazine consistently has featured superior editorial content, innovative design, and a no-holds-barred attitude, garnering Giant Robot notoriety across a diverse crowd ranging from high schoolers to senior citizens. The magazine's graphic sensibility has featured a slew of artists who have gone on to fame in the art world. The magazine's popularity even led to the opening of Giant Robot retail stores, selling the kinds of cool products that the magazine writes about.
February 16, 2010

CU Independent faculty advisor Amy Herdy has guided her students from its darkest days to a new campaign against racism and prejudice. The bus sign above her is part of the students Three years ago this week, a student news website at the University of Colorado sparked a firestorm of protest. The website posted a column by a student, Max Karson, which ineptly tried to address racism on the CU campus by poking fun at Asian stereotypes. The column, "If It's War the Asians Want, It's War They'll Get," stirred the Denver area's Asian and Asian American communities to organize and demand changes at the University. The timing was unfortunate, because it ran on Feb. 18, just a day before the 2008 Day of Remembrance, when Japanese Americans mark the signing of Executive Order 9066, which led to the internment of 120,000 people of Japanese descent in American concentration camps during World War II. The column joked about "locking up" all Asians. The area's Asian communities weren't amused, and rallied quickly to protest. So did student organizations not just at CU, but at the states other universities. National Asian American and civil rights organizations sent letters of protest to the Campus Press, but to the CU administration. In the two years since, there haven't been a lot of concrete changes at CU in general over racial issues as far as many students can see, but there have been lots of changes at the Campus Press. Its faculty advisor, Amy Herdy, a former colleague of mine at The Denver Post, was an early target of protesters but it turned out the rules for the website prevented her from having editorial control. It's a student-run website. But since then, Herdy and the students who run the website have been busy rebuilding the class's reputation, upgrading its commitment to quality journalism, and have worked hard to avoid ever allowing something like the "War Against Asians" column from bubbling up again.
February 15, 2010

Dan Kuramoto, founding member of the Grammy-nominated fusion jazz group HiroshimaWe've taken several months off, but Erin and I are ready to resume our series of interviews with inspirational Asian Americans for 2010. We're especially proud to be able to speak with Dan Kuramoto, one of the founding members of the fusion jazz group Hiroshima, because the group has been nominated twice for a Grammy award! We'll be speaking with Dan on Tuesday, March 2 at 6 pm PT (9 pm ET). You can register now for the call and submit questions for Dan on our webcast page. Only a few Asian Americans have been nominated for a Grammy Award over the years, and Hiroshima has managed the feat twice -- once in 1980 for "Winds of Change," a track off the groups second album, "Odori." Hiroshima was nominated again for their latest album "Legacy," a collection of re-recordings of songs from the band's first ten years together. The band has been together for over 30 years, and have become an institution on the fusion jazz and R&B scene.
February 14, 2010

As a kid in Japan, we always celebrated New Year's Day, or Oshougatsu, on January 1, just like in the United States, but with different traditions than in America. Japanese clean the house like crazy leading up to the day, and New Year's Eve isn't the big party that it is in the U.S. Instead, New Year's Day is more...